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Essay Help
Writing
Resource
Getting Started
The GradeSaver Writing Resource Service provides you with
help in getting started on your essay. GradeSaver
has compiled this guide based on essays that we have edited. Often essays
on excellent topics simply lack focus or fail to answer the essay question.
Following GradeSaver's basic plan can make a
tremendous difference in the quality of your writing.
Step 1:
Think about
an essay topic...
Before you write anything be sure to know what you are writing about. Choose a
topic which provides you with ample resources and information and which you
understand well. Be sure to specify exactly what you want to write on.
Often students fail to answer the entire essay question because they get
sidetracked at this stage. The essay question provides clues about what you
are expected to write on. Make sure your topic is relevant and answers all
the main questions.
Here is a
sample essay topic:
Describe the role of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) since its inception to the present. How
has the IMF impacted the world economy?
Step 2:
Understand
the essay topic...
First
understand the topic. Draw on notes and research to gain a good
understanding of the topic you have been given or have chosen. Although the
factual content of an essay topic may seem easy, read the material very
carefully to be sure that you are not missing relevant points. It is
crucial that you understand the topic material fully.
Second, be sure you know what
to do with the topic. The sample question presented above asks you to do
two processes simultaneously. You must give a factual account of what the
IMF has done and also provide an analysis of how those actions have effected the world economy. For the descriptive part you
should first gather evidence and facts about what the IMF has accomplished.
Only after you have presented the factual data can you effectively evaluate
that information. Reserve your personal ideas about what impact the IMF has
had until after you have presented the facts. You personal evaluation
should come through in your
analysis of those facts.
It is often
helpful to first generate a page of evidence and facts. This provides you
with an overview of the topic and gives you a guide from which to draw
inferences and information. You will discover that actually writing the
essay becomes much easier once you have a sheet to glance at. If you are having
trouble sorting through all the facts, a page of evidence will usually sort
the data in a way that eliminates this problem.
If the assigned topic seems
vague, too broad, or unclear, then you must state your interpretation of
the topic. It is best to indicate how you have chosen to interpret a topic before you start to
actually analyze it. While ambiguous essay questions seem unfair, they are
actually designed to test your ability to limit your topic area. This
provides you with more room for analysis and is an opportunity to think
carefully about a topic.
Direction
words...
Direction
words are the keywords in every essay question that setup the question.
Understanding these words and what they are asking will immediately put you
on the right track to answering the question. Some keywords and definitions
are given below:
Analyze: State the facts which you are asked to
"analyze" and then give a detailed evaluation of the facts;
this asks you to point out both similarities and differences between the facts.
Compare: Examine the set of facts and
information and find resemblances and differences among them. You should
stress the similarities and give some indication of the differences.
Contrast: Examine the set of facts and
information and highlight the differences while giving some indication of
the similarities.
Criticize: This asks you to either
agree or disagree with a statement or idea; be sure that you fairly
evaluate both sides and present arguments and counter-arguments both for
and against your opinions.
Define: Provide a short, usually one paragraph
or less, definition of the term.
Describe: Gather a set of facts and information
about the topic and carefully "list" the information.
Discuss: Examine the various viewpoints and
compare and contrast them. This requires a detailed answer from you.
Evaluate: This asks you to do two things: 1)
present the facts 2) give a detailed explanation why some facts are more
important or valid than others.
Justify: Present a reasonable explanation for
any opinions expressed (this may be opinions provided in the essay question
which you are asked to "justify"). It is always good practice to justify any opinions which you present
in a paper.
Summarize: Provide the main points and facts in
condensed form. DO NOT provide illustrations of a point or highlight
unnecessary trivia.
Trace:
This asks you to follow a sequence of events from some starting point. In
the example
provided you could be asked to ÒtraceÓ the
history of the IMF from its inception to the present.
...Words to
watch out for.
Words such as
"better," "more influential," "stronger"
often demand that you substantiate them. More influential than what? If you
are comparing several institutions, say for example the World Bank and the
IMF, you need to avoid making a statement like, "The IMF is better
than the World Bank." This statement provides no factual evidence and,
unless you can reference a source for that statement, will be detrimental
to your essay. So avoid vague words and make sure that you
provide evidence to support any statements which are normative.
Step 3:
Starting
the writing process...
You should
begin by writing down any ideas you have about the topic. Do not worry
about whether the ideas are relevant yet, simply get a sheet of paper and
note your thoughts. An idea
that you might consider rejecting could easily become important later on.
This is called brainstorming about a topic. Your random list of ideas will
help you focus your topic and provide a basis from which to start writing.
Generating a thesis...
The thesis
provides the frame and direction for your essay. All of your ideas and
paragraphs should relate back to your thesis by the time you are finished
writing. The ultimate goal is not to create a definitive thesis, but rather
only a working thesis. At this stage the thesis is merely a tool to get you
started. Do not get too hung up on following the framework set up by the first thesis
you decide on. Often while writing you will discover that you are defending
the opposite view of what you originally posited. You thesis can be amended
at any time.
Do not make your thesis a
repeat of the question. In other words, do not write something like,
"The role of the IMF since its inception to the present has had a
positive impact on the world economy." While this sentiment may be
what you want to say, a far better thesis would be, "In spite of recent criticism,
history indicates that the IMF has benefited the world economy numerous
times since it was established in 1944." This statement presents your
views, shows a command over the subject and invites counter-arguments. A
controversial thesis is sometimes necessary to force you to defend an
opinion. This then stimulates more and better ideas about the topic.
Feel free to change your
thesis at any point. Once you see that your are drifting away from the original
thesis idea make sure that you are still answering the essay question. If
you are, then it is fine to consider changing the thesis to match what you
have written, rather than try and force what you are writing to conform to
an untenable thesis. Remember, writing the thesis early helps you to start
organizing your ideas efficiently.
Organizing
the facts...
Take the notes
and facts you have accumulated, as well as all your ideas, and try to group
them. You should already have done a great deal of this in creating your
thesis, but now you need to prepare the outline for the essay. Putting the
ideas and facts into categories allows you to organize the essay
immediately, so you know what paragraph you want where. Points that you
want to stress should form their own categories so that you can put
relevant information there. Keep all of the notes while writing your essay
because you might need a piece of information that you initially thought
was worthless.
Creating
the rough draft...
Getting
started can be the most daunting part of drafting an essay. If you are
having trouble, start off by stating an obvious fact. Then write about that
fact as it relates back to your thesis. For instance, in the topic given
above you might have a thesis which states that the IMF is a worthless institution. So start your rough draft with an example
of how the IMF is worthless and tell your reader how this example proves
your point. Often this will catalyze a host of other things you need to add
to that simple statement, and your essay will naturally grow.
Your introductory paragraph
does not need to be great at this point. Since it frames the essay, you
need it to give you guidance more than anything. If necessary, make your
introductory paragraph into a list of the categories of facts and ideas you
created already. This list can
serve as the framework of your paper until
you devise a better one.
Remember that your rough draft
is exactly what it says it is: a rough draft. Be prepared to throw out
whole parts of it and rewrite extensively.
Step 4:
Order of
the essay...
Simply writing
several pages of factual information followed by several pages of analysis
is often a bad way to organize an essay. Your final ordering should depend
on your topic and on your writing style. For example, for this essay it
might be better to present a chronological order: first start with the
inception of the IMF and present a paragraph of facts, follow this with a
paragraph of analysis, then move to another paragraph of facts, etc.
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